This paper studies the relationship of artificial intelligence (AI) to the study of language and the representation of the underlying knowledge that supports the comprehension process. It develops the view that intelligence is based on the ability to use large amounts of diverse kinds of knowledge in procedural ways, rather than on the possession of a few general and uniform principles. Specific topics covered in the seven chapters include AI as the study of intelligent processes; frames as a unifying approach to representing knowledge; the structure of an AI theory; self-knowledge; control structures; the Classical, Romantic, and Modern periods of AI; the impact of AI on education, and controversies about educability and innateness. (FL)